Not quite - they denied he currently held a Visiting Professor position, not that he was a Professor between 2022 and 2023. But if the response to my FOI request is accurate, then the investigation is going to have a hard time getting anywhere!

No, positions that senior wouldn’t be decided by one individual. And HR would have been involved.

It probably is legal for them to receive a FOI request, quickly burn the requested documents, and then truthfully say they don't have them. Any lawyers know? ?

The willingness of university administrators to simply lie to conceal their incompetence and misconduct never ceases to amaze me. One hopes this case will help show the public the sort of corruption their taxes are paying for.

It could happen to anyone. You appoint a chap to a Professorship at an important educational establishment, and before you know it, the paperwork relating to the appointment disappears down the digestive tract of the Vice-Chancellor's pet chihuahua.

They're either lying or deeply unprofessional. Every university recruitment panel I've sat on had an electronic trail as long as your arm, with a report on every candidate interviewed.

Record retention policy on applications. gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/pod/a-z/…

The question I would want the Cambridge inquiry to answer above all others is: “Show us exactly what the nine electors were given about Jason Arday’s academic record before they voted unanimously to appoint him.”

So no one sends Outlook invites to interview panels at Glasgow Uni?

ask for the travel expense claims as well as records of the appointment interview. You’re still within the six years they are statutorily required to keep them

Wonder if you would have a similar response if you asked for details of his appointments at Durham University and Liverpool John Moores University?

It seems vanishingly unlikely they are telling the truth. Assuming they're lying, it also seems extremely unlikely they don't know they are breaking the law.

They are stonewalling and you should push back. It might help to open new FOI requests but make them very specific and focus on one thing per request. Also point out their data retention policy.

This needs to be reviewed immediately.

Does the university have a legal obligation to keep records of such things? What if Arday just turned up one day and said he was the new professor and no one was brave enough to say anything😆.

We've appointed a professor by mistake, but we don't know which of us did it.

It’s pure bs. His original line manager would’ve been the key decision maker on his appointment so they will clearly have that information.

People get hired all the time without any trace of who made the hiring decision 😂😂😂😂😂😂

The cover up is always intriguing. People who are proud of their decisions own up to them.

Check the bonfire out back that was lit the day this FOI request was made.

There must be e mails about it

There will be an agreed(with the Trades Unions)and approved (by the relevant Committees) written recruitment process for appointments to vacancies at this high level.This identifies which Postholders are on the Appointment Panel. HR records identify who occupied the Postholders

What? That's ridiculous! Of course they have the paperwork.

I thought panels at mostHE institutions now also had a member of HR sitting on the panel to ensure " adherence to DEI policies"? This would of course , be documented, in the event of a complaint.

It only signals the ethics problem is all the more serious: now shredding papers, lying about it, breaking laws, etc.

UGlasgow is lying! There, I said it!

Smelling bull shit

How very 20th-century of you to use the phrase "paper trail"! There are undoubtedly thousands and thousands of highly inconvenient electronic documents and messages that they are now desperate to conceal. Nobody believes them.

As an academic who has sat on many interview panels, there will be a massive digital trail for this. Find someone connected and get them to demand a subject access request.

I have personal experience of a Scottish HE institution being fantastically non-complaint with FOIs to the point of being rapped over the knuckles on appeal to the Information Commissioner. Their response - to send us a lawyer's letter (from SG government lawyers) warning us off from making further FOI requests or contacting their board members. Disturbing parallels with Arday's actions towards people who asked him questions.

Good luck to Glasgow Uni if they get sued for sexism or racism in that appointment. One of the losing candidates has a great case because the defence have already shredded all the paperwork.

Outrageous. More lies. Ironically.

Was the title possibly slightly different and they are trying to get out of it that way?

Not surprised by this. @UofGlasgow denied my SAR to access my data concerning a completed investigation of research misconduct that I raised. If processes are fair and transparent this would not have been refused.